Chapter Constraint Management Tutorial

Handout 1:

Fall 2015

Chapter Constraint Management Tutorial

Handout 2:

Fall 2015

Chapter Constraint Management Tutorial

Handout 3:

Fall 2015

Chapter Constraint Management Tutorial

Fall 2015

Handout 4:
Yost-Perry Industries (YPI) manufactures a mix of affordable guitars (A, B, C) that are fabricates and
assembled at four different processing stations (W, X, Y, Z). The operations is a batch process with small
setup times that can be considered negligible. The product information (price, weekly demand and
processing times) and process sequences are shown in the figure below. Raw materials and purchased
parts (shown as a per-unit consumption rate) are represented by inverted triangles.
YPI is able to make and sell up to the limit of its demand per week with no penalties incurred for not
meeting the full demand. Each workstation is staffed by one highly skilled worker who is dedicated to
work on that workstation alone and is paid $15 per hour. The plant operates on 8-hour shift/day and
operates on a 5-day work week (i.e. 40 hours of production per person/week). Overhead costs are $9,000
per week. Which of the four workstations (W,X, Y, Z) has the highest aggregate workload, and thus
serves as the bottleneck for YPI?

Chapter Constraint Management Tutorial

Fall 2015

Handout 5:
Cooper River Glass Works (CRGW) produces four different models of desk lamps as shown in figure
below. The operations manager knows that total monthly demand exceeds the capacity available for
production. Thus, she is interested in determining the product mix which will maximize profits. Each
models price, routing, processing times and material costs are provide in the figure. Demand next month
is estimated to be: Alpha = 200, Bravo = 250, Charlie = 150, and Delta = 225. CRGW operates one 8hour shift/day and is scheduled to work 20 days next month with no overtime. Further, each station
requires a 10% capacity cushion.
a) Which station is the bottleneck?
b) Using the tradition method, which bases decisions solely on a products contributions to profits and
overhead, what is the optimal product mix and what is the overall profitability?
c) Using the bottleneck-based method, what is the optimal product mix and what is the overall profitability?

Chapter Constraint Management Tutorial

Fall 2015

Chapter Constraint Management Tutorial

Fall 2015

Handout 6:
Quick Stop Pharmacy is a small family-owned drug compounding business in Portland, OR, trying to
perfect its customer service operations. John Suleiman, the owner, wants to maximize the productivity of
his staff as well as serve customers well. One are of concern is the drive-thru operation during the 7:30 to
8:30 morning rush hour. The process of fulfilling an order is as follows:

a)
b)
c)
d)

If all the steps are handled by one employee, how many patients could be served per hour?
If James wants to process 30 patients per hour, how many employees will he need?
How many stations are required using the longest element decision rule?
Using the solution developed in part c, which station is the bottleneck and how large is its
capacity cushion?

Chapter Constraint Management Tutorial

Fall 2015

Handout 7:
A paced assembly line has been devised to manufacture calculators, as the following data show:

a) What is the maximum hourly output rate from this line? (Hint: The line can only go as fast as its
slowest workstation.)
b) What cycle time corresponds to this maximum output rate?
c) If a worker is at each station and the line operates at this maximum output rate, how much idle
time is lost during each 10-hour shift?
d) What is the lines efficiency?